Blossoms were inspired to write big "euphoric pop" songs like Oasis on their new LP ‘Cool Like You’.
The Northern rockers have unveiled their second studio album and revealed that not only were their favourite Britpop band an influence on their new synth-heavy record, but they’ve also been listening to a lot of 80s music too.
Drummer Joe Donovan said: "Tom has always said he wants to write tunes like those from when we were growing up, like Oasis, that make you want to grab your mate and sing along to the chorus. Those are the songs that Tom writes."
Speaking about how modern rockers The Killers’ style and bands like Prefab Sprout – who had nine of their albums in the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart – caught his ear, frontman Tom Ogden told The Sun newspaper: "We were into that Eighties sound on the keyboards so I carried on with that like with the first song on the album — There’s A Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls).
"We like the fact it’s an album of euphoric pop songs.
"We can’t wait to start playing the songs and the keyboards have helped shape the sound.
"We like The Killers who are a modern band that do those songs.
"And we were listening to Eighties bands like Prefab Sprout. I love their song When Love Breaks Down.
"I was on Spotify and had a synth-pop playlist and I was listening to that a lot, then I wrote Cool Like You and I Can’t Stand It on my keyboard."
The record, which will be released on April 27, features lead single ‘I Can’t Stand It’, which is inspired by Michel Gondry’s movie ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’
Tom explained: "It’s a song about desperately wanting to forget about someone, but you can’t because they’re a part of you – and how that can be unbearable. ‘Spotless Mind’ is about wanting to erase someone from your thoughts – to forget they even existed – and that feeds into the lyrics. It’s a very literal song in many ways."
With the second record – which follows their 2016 self-titled debut – the frontman admits he’s learned to be more "comfortable" baring his soul.
He said: "I used to hide behind grand metaphors a bit, as with ‘Charlemagne’, which was about worshipping someone. But now I feel more comfortable being really personal and literal. I think people relate to it."
The band will head out on a May UK tour in support of ‘Cool Like You’, kicking off in their hometown on May 4 at Stockport Plaza, before wrapping at Norwich’s The Nick Rayns LCR, UEA on May 12.
The full track-listing for ‘Cool Like You’ is as follows:
1 – ‘There’s A Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)’
2 – ‘I Can’t Stand It’
3 – ‘Cool Like You’
4 – ‘Unfaithful’
5 – ‘Stranger Still’
6 – ‘How Long Will This Last?’
7 – ‘Between The Eyes’
8 – ‘I Just Imagined You’
9 – ‘Giving Up The Ghost’
10 – ‘Lying Again’
11 – ‘Love Talk’